New York City Transit has
responded with a blanket "no" to the proposal for in-station parking
at the Bedford Ave Station in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, despite letters of
support from community members, City Councilman Kenneth Fisher and Senator
Martin Connor. Although T.A. worked with transit agency representatives to be
certain that the station itself was large enough to house bike racks for five
to seven bikes, NYC Transit contends that the "mezzanine is too small to
safely accommodate the installation of bike racks." Further, NYC Transit
says that it is concerned about the "safety of customers carrying
bicycles down the narrow stairs of the station to the mezzanine." In
fact, by failing to install these racks, NYC Transit is encouraging more
bicycles on rush hour trains and therefore more bike traffic on the
"narrow" flight of stairs to the mezzanine and the second set of
stairs to the train platform.

T.A. is continuing to push
the proposal with NYC Transit and to work with them to create a solution to
the parking dearth for cyclists at the Bedford Ave. station. A new bike
parking study by the Department of City Planning proposed sidewalk extensions
with bike parking under a bus shelter-type cover. T.A. has asked the NYC
Department of Transportation to install such parking at Bedford Ave. as an
alternative to in-station parking.